In our consulting business practice, we work with many successful, entrepreneurial business owners and also long-term employees who acquire equity in the business and seek to grow into a senior leadership role.
A foundational element of our coaching is that one essential mind shift is necessary to move from employee to owner. As luck would have it, this is also an essential skill to exercise in your business to ensure that it survives the COVID-19 crisis, and best illustrated in a story.
Much earlier in my career, I was a mid-level manager at a fine china manufacturing company, a company that took pride in the fact that it provided china service for the White House for over a hundred years. The company had a sound distribution model with excellent relationships in the retail space. The corporate owner of this fine china company, full of artisans including painters, silversmiths and porcelain designers, demanded that profitability improve year over year. What could the management team do, none of whom were owners, to increasing profitability? Well, they did what many employees do in their roles. They made the best decision they could and “hoped” there weren’t any problems. In this case, the decision was to expand from two outlet stores to over one hundred, thereby increasing sales tremendously! A brilliant plan, right? Brilliant except for one thing, no one on the team that came up with this idea thought like an owner.
What do I mean “think like an owner?” Through my experience working with successful owners of many companies, plus, owning and leading a company myself, an owner asks: “What could go wrong?” and intentionally and persistently looks for problems inside their own business. While employees are “hoping” something works so they don’t get into trouble, owners are looking for trouble, heck they’re inviting trouble into their day by looking for problems. And after these problems are uncovered, then and only then can they be resolved.
Back to the fine china company. The outlet plan was a huge success for a few years. Until…problems began – the demand at the outlets outpaced production at the factory. Inferior goods were brought in to cover the supply shortfall, customers started returning more of their purchases because they didn’t match the 1st quality china they had at home. The brand reputation was tarnished. Ten years of this cycle put the company in a very bad place and the corporate parent sold this once proud fine china company at a loss.
I’ve thought about this decline many times over the years. Had there been even one leader in a position of influence who thought like an owner, could this fine china company still be impressing us with its American handcrafted products?
So how does this apply to the business environment now around COVID-19?
I hear some people in companies talking like employees, saying things like…”When things come back” or “When we are back to normal.” These are two statements firmly anchored in hope, but not anchored in an owner approach of looking for problems. Owners looking for problems are asking questions including:
“What may never be the same about my business?”
“What if key employees that I’ve furloughed don’t come back?”
“What if key customers don’t come back?”
“What if my line of credit from the bank is withdrawn?”
“What are all of the expenses that I can cut now?”
“What could go wrong after social distancing ends?”
How have you talked about your business today? Did your remarks come from an owner or employee perspective?
Thanks for reading this article and please share your thoughts with me in the comments.
Jeff@COOForYou.com
888-588-0357